Looking Back at the Lockdown: Some Experiences of the EEB2 Students, Parents and a Teacher.

Looking Back at the Lockdown: Some Experiences of the EEB2
Students, Parents and a Teacher.

Dear parents,

The second half of this academic year has been exceptional in many ways: due to the
corona crisis a lot of great initiatives and current projects as well as our daily life needed
to be urgently reshaped. Please find below a handful of impressions penned down by some
of our parents, students and one teacher – Niina Viima, the class teacher of P5FIA. We are
happy to present to you too the ‘Pizza Project’: a fascinating example of solidarity of the
parents of the Italian section of EEB2 and the staff of the St. Luc Hospital.

Enjoy the reading and above all – have a nice and refreshing summer vacation!

The APEEE board

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 Bettina Mogensen

We started confinement right after the February holidays. My son came
back from skiing in Lombardy and, despite a negative corona test, the
whole family was stuck at home immediately, meaning the first two
weeks the kids had no on-line learning. Well, we all tuned into home
mode. I started to grow vegetable plants from seeds (proud to present
my tomato wilderness, incredible that they all came from a small seed). I
got organised to order online from local grocery stores, e.g. “la ruche” -
quite a success story by the way. Also my local community got more
active and I found we all also gained from the situation.

On the other hand, being Administrative Vice President and canteen
coordinator of our APEEE became very challenging, with all the organisation needed to find ways not
to lose the grip on our services, endless calculations and discussions with a lot of people involved.
So, if you ask me whether I got bored at home, the answer is: definitively not. And I learned that on-
line meetings are effective and actually a good alternative. Before, we always had to rush to school
for meetings during lunch time. Well, I hope in future this will be handled in a much more flexible
manner. The same is true for my workplace. I do hope that this exceptional situation shows that
people are flexible, can work remotely in an effective way and suspicious managers have learnt a
lesson.

If I look at how my teenage kids dealt with the on-line learning offer, I must say, they did a great job.
It’s like sitting in front of the screen the whole day, stay concentrated. Not sure I would have been
able to do that when I was young. But then, kids are amazingly flexible, too. Even if some classes
were not organised perfectly, I still have respect to the teachers who had to basically change their
way of teaching from one day to another.

Now, big discussions are going on for September scenarios. Rien est aquis! The future is not entirely
clear, we have to stay flexible and open minded. Let’s all try to make the best out of these special
times. After all, we can be grateful for our comparetively good situation!

Rosalia Magagnin

Pizza to staff at Saint Luc Hospital - Initiative from Italian section
Messages from Natacha Van Gossum -Infirmière chef équipe mobile- Cliniques
Universitaires Saint-Luc (Original test)
“Un énorme MERCI à tous les petits élèves italien de l'école européenne. Vos pizzas et votre
petit mot nous réchauffent le cœur et nous donnent beaucoup de courage. A chaque
livraison nous distribuerons à une équipe différente. Aujourd'hui les pizzas ont été
distribuées à: l'équipe des brancardiers, les médecins et sages-femmes en charge des
patientes covid, le personnel d'entretien, les infirmières de l'équipe mobile qui vont aider
dans les unités covid. Merci beaucoup. Bon we de Pâques.”
A few days after the lockdown in the North of Italy the health emergency appeared in its full
severity, but solidarity and philanthropy became even more contagious than Covid-19, and
Italians responded by showing remarkable resilience and unity.
The media told us about acts of silent courage of researchers in hospital, about the tireless
work of nurses and doctors, and about many other spontaneous initiatives like P2P riders
who offered thousands of masks to hospitals, directors of schools who provided old PCs for
their students, ordinary citizens who provided food to vulnerable people.

This generosity deeply touched me and while stuck at home to respect the lockdown, I
decided that I had the moral obligation to show my closeness, gratitude and admiration to
our silent heroes in Brussels, in particular to those working on the front line of the battle
against Coronavirus at Saint Luc Hospital, the nearest one to our school in Woluwe.

In the first week of April, the Italian section immediately responded to the simple but
concrete initiative to collect around 5 EUR per family, to deliver meals to healthcare
workers. Thanks to Francesca Tudini who kindly supported the action.

Thus, we succeeded in raising around 2.000 euro to deliver pizza, and other Italian food for
 the employees in the Covid Unit, from doctors to nurses, from cleaners to porters in Saint
 Luc Hospital.
 The idea was also to support small local business, giving a little help to survive in this critical
 period. On top of that, we had the occasion to donate part of the money to a Covid ONG in
 Italy, the “Protezione Civile”.
 “C'est vraiment très gentil de votre part. Ça m'a vraiment fait très plaisir d'organiser la
 distribution des pizzas et de voir le bonheur dans les yeux de mes collègues. Ça a vraiment
 été fortement apprécié par toutes les équipes de médecins et infirmiers.” Natasha Van
 Gossum.

 Patricija Prince

 As to our experience during the lockdown, there is hardly any good
 word to say. At the beginning the things were still not so bad as my
 two daughters, learning in Secondary, and I thought that the school
 would restart normally after a few weeks. The girls looked for
 something positive in this situation and tried to do some new
 activities they had not done before, however after Easter holidays
 the mood started to deteriorate rapidly. The children became
 apathetic and depressed. After about a month they did not show
 any interest anymore about going out, they lacked physical activities
 and their style of life became motionless, sedentary and actually
 This is a random image from the internet indifferent to everything. The internet world was much more
 my daughters chose to illustrate their attractive than any walks in the parks, observing nature returning to
 mood. the city etc. The strain on the eyes grew considerably both because
 of online lessons and online free time.

Every new e-mail from the school prolonging this
abnormal situation brought further stress and
disappointment, and the message that this would last till
the end of the school year was the last straw. After this
neither of us saw any reason for the girls to be physically
present in Brussels, and after a few days they departed
to their home country. This time has shown us that we
are made of an explosive material when our
fundamental freedoms like the freedom of movement
are concerned. The atmosphere upon departure to their home country
 felt for my daughters like escaping from Alcatraz

Emilia Cannistraci

In the beginning, we found it really difficult and very intense
sharing homework, home office and every other activity all
together. After one month, my daughter, learning in primary,
understood how to manage the new school’s system “Teams”
and she started to be a bit independent, needing less
supervision and leaving me more time for managing my work.
We were always happy and motivated. I also received very
positive feedback from the teacher about the work of my
daughter and my support to her. The only negative side was
that, after a few months, my daughter was missing her
schoolmates and her teacher.

 Personally, my teleworking
 experience was very positive
 and I can recommend it
 strongly. My husband had a
 chance after years to find the
 time to restart his passion -
 painting.

The positive side is also that I never spent so much
time with my daughter (apart the first 6 month of her
life). Taking advantage of our garden and the fact
that the weather was nice each day, we also had the
opportunity to spend enough time outside.

 All in all, I can say that the
 experience was positive.

Laura Labriola-Kropp

Incrédulité, colère, incertitude, irritabilité, résignation, … en résumé, une profonde angoisse.
Ce sont les mots qui décrivent au mieux nos sentiments pendant ces longues semaines de
confinement, sans école « in situ ».
Nous avons deux filles, une en 3e primaire et l’autre en maternelle. Etant moi-même médecin
et travaillant dans un hôpital de référence pour le Coronavirus, j’ai dû beaucoup travailler sur
place pendant le confinement. Le matin, j’imprimais les devoirs pour l’aînée, et je lui expliquais
les consignes pendant le petit-déjeuner. Mon mari prenait la relève, tout en faisant du
télétravail. C’était très difficile pour lui de superviser le travail de notre fille et faire le sien en
même temps. Parfois il ne pouvait pas être interrompu pendant une heure ou deux…
Même si la situation s’est quelque peu améliorée avec le temps, elle est restée extrêmement
difficile. Je rentrais vers 18 heures et souvent notre fille n’avait pas encore fini. Elle avait du
mal à se concentrer à la maison. Je devais alors m’asseoir avec elle et l’aider à terminer ses
devoirs. Elle était épuisée. Un jour elle m’a dit qu’elle ne voulait pas continuer à «vivre comme
ça»…Je lui ai demandé pourquoi. Elle m’a dit qu’elle en avait ras-le-bol et qu’elle craignait de
ne plus revoir ses amis et sa maîtresse… J’ai encouragé les vidéoconférences avec ses copines,
ce qu’elle a fait avec grand plaisir. Cela va sans dire que ces coups de fil n’ont jamais remplacé
les contacts sociaux réels…

Nous essayions de sortir en fin d’après-midi, faire du vélo ou du jogging, en profitant du beau
temps printanier. Tous les mercredis après-midi, nous faisions de longues promenades à pied,
jusqu’au parc de Woluwe, ou en forêt de Soignes. C’est peut-être la seule chose positive de
cette période: les promenades avec les filles. C’était magnifique de les voir courir et s’amuser,
se ressourcer et reprendre des forces.
Lorsque mon mari leur a annoncé la réouverture de l’école, c’était la joie. Un très long éclat
de rire de notre fille aînée. La petite aussi. Et le retour à l’école s’est passé à merveille.
Lorsque je relis mon texte, je reprends conscience de l’impact malsain que cette période sans
école a eu sur la santé mentale de notre fille de 8 ans. Je crois que, si on avait dû continuer
l’école à la maison pendant encore quatre semaines, les conséquences auraient été plus
délétères et difficiles à prédire…
J’espère de tout cœur que cette situation appartient maintenant au passé et que les enfants
pourront retourner à l’école après l’été.

Ahimsa Gesquire

 “How I see the lockdown” from the eyes of P3 student Ahimsa

When the lockdown began, I was not very happy. Although the nature was healing, I
hated lockdown (and Covid too). But, after a few weeks, it felt almost normal! I had more
time for myself, the cherry flowers were blooming in the tree, my brother got more
irritating by the minute, you know, the usual. Now I am doing school on the computer. I
also am doing music and dance lessons (from the local music and dance academy) on the
computer or from my dad`s smart phone. but I still can not get used to my music/dance
lessons online. I was so happy when the primary school choir teachers organised a virtual
lockdown choir.

Since March each time it was 8 o`clock I went outside to clap and sing in honour of the
frontline workers. Some times to dance, if the neighbour brings his saxophone out to play
Jazz. My parents bought a microphone and speakers for my 9th birthday which was in
May. My brother starts the ritual by playing “Ode to joy” on recorder. I sing every evening
songs like “Tomorrow” from the movie “Annie”, “Anthem”, “Hallelujah” and “Suzanne” by
Leonard Cohen, “Over the rainbow” from the movie Wizard of Oz, “Words” by the Bee Gees
and also Sri Lankan songs as I am half Sri Lankan. Our neighbours’ children also join in
singing and our elderly neighbours are so happy with this ritual.

Now I actually like the lockdown! I get to know my neighbours better, I have more time
to draw manga, I see foxes on the walking path and I play a lot in the garden. I miss
school and my friends. My mum and dad decided to keep me home this month because the
risks are too big and the virus has not disappeared. Even today there was a class (each
class is a bubble) quarantined. But for the rest it is ok. And me, my brother and my father
went to the library yesterday. We got loads of nice books! I also talk to my friends on
TEAMS chat and I am so happy when we get an online class with the teacher.

I pray for a new normal.

Where people have respect for nature,

have learned their lesson from this lockdown and

have what they have and be happy with it.

Stay safe!

Sarnath Gesquire

My name is Sarnath. I am a student of S2 NLA. During the third week of
lockdown our L1 (Dutch) teacher Ms Zielman asked my class to create an
acrostichon. This means every line starts with a letter of a word from our
names. She asked that the content of the poem should be about the lockdown.
Our opinions, habits, feelings and frustrations, anything went, as long as
it was going to be about the lockdown. These were the fruits of my labour.

 Stomme verveling, wat kan ik er aan doen?
 Aan school verandert niks, het blijft even erg.
 Ritje per fiets? Dat ontspant ons voor een poosje.
 Nieuws is deprimerend, waar gaat de wereld naartoe?
 Alles en iedereen gaat dood, je naar buiten wagen is zelfmoord.
 Tijd vertraagt, de bubbel wordt verstikkend.
 Hoog tijd dat iemand er iets aan doet!

 Geloof helpt niet, alleen kritiek is nuttig.
 Een letsel voor de mensheid, de redding voor de natuur.
 “Samen” haalt niets uit, blijf alstublieft apart.
 Quarantaine is de oplossing, maar geld blijft stinken.
 Uw lofzangen klinken mooi, maar dit zijn begrafenisliederen, niet
 fanfarerepertoires.
 Iets moet gebeuren, maar wat?
 Enkel de tijd weet onze koers en onze snelheid.
 Ronkende motoren vallen stil, fabrieken stoppen met hoesten,
 En zal er hier iets goeds uitkomen?"

Guido Salvatore

Check out how Oscar Salvatore (S2 ITA) has kept busy during confinement period by creating
his alter ego ‘President Space’ in YouTube!

President Space’s videos are hilarious and depict the reality of the past months. They even
feature some special effects and animation!

 d
Discover how e-learning and online tests really work, or how to change boring confinement
days into exciting ones, or to make tricks with simple tools…

Creativity within the walls of the house has no limits!

 Tomas Jonsson

Home schooling has worked really well in our case, with online assignments and hand-ins. Results
have been excellent. Regarding teachers’ activity levels, it has been overall good, but some teachers
need to be much more active during chat sessions with the pupils. Information from EEB2 and APEEE
has been good.

Taija Toratti

 Guerrilla gardening - ’The illicit cultivation of someone else’s land’ - is a movement that
 started in New York in the 1970’s with people cultivating empty city lots, and has since
 spread all over the world. The idea is to sow seeds and plant on unkept or unused land for all
 to enjoy.

 A year ago, we sold tree saplings at Footfest, and since autumn I
 have been sowing seeds in pots and gathered saplings to do the
 same this year... then came the virus, and I was left with a lot of
 plantlets waiting for a new home. This gave me the opportunity to
 become a guerrilla gardener during lockdown.

 I walk daily in the green areas around our neighbourhood - not
 the maintained parks but the wild in-between areas with random
 paths where nature seems to take care of herself. There, I looked
 for patches for the trees: Not too open but neither too shady, easy
 access but safe from trampling and mowing, marked with a circle
 of dry twigs and some wood chipping to make them easy to find. I
 I have been watering them on my daily walks, lost two due to
 dryness and two to a farmer who extended his fields, and I now
 have 17 marked on my map. I will visit them for as long as I live
 close by.

 The planting has felt therapeutic this spring, a way of belonging
Fraxinus excelsior and saying ’this place is important to me’. Take only photographs,
 leave only footprints - and maybe a tree 

 Natalia Karpenko

 With my contribution I would like to express my deep appreciation and heart-felt understanding to all
 the parents who have shown an incredible creativity, resilience and at times true self-sacrifice in the
 past months to help keep up the development of their kids under the unprecedented circumstances
 of a lockdown.

 We’ve all found ourselves suddenly placed in front of a virtually impossible task of giving our kids an
 opportunity to develop all their different talents and stay sane – within the limits of our home and the
 direct neighborhood. With all the due respect to the tremendous efforts of the teachers to supervise
 these processes, a big part of this responsibility was carried out by parents. We’ve (re-)discovered our
 own talents in music, arts, sports, math, languages, cooking, gardening, digital skills etc. etc. and above
 all – in organizing ourselves in an attempt to minimize the harm of the lockdown on our kids. I’m glad
 we’ve survived this period and I’m happy too that we can close it off now and move forward, with all
 the necessary precautions and the knowledge we have now to prevent another lockdown from
 happening.

 Looking back and shaking off the stress of the past months, our family retains the beautiful memories
 which perhaps wouldn’t have been possible without a lockdown. Under different circumstances we
 would perhaps not have come up with an idea to grow our own potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes or

beans in flowerpots at the windows of our apartment. The kids truly enjoyed the chance to be able to
follow the growth of a plant from a seed to a fruit. Our own home-grown potatoes tasted fantastic!..

 Niina Viima
 Class teacher P5FIA
 Primary Choir Team
Learning in focus
What an experience! In two days we put everything around us in Teams and made sure that teaching
and learning continues no matter what the circumstances are. In Nursery and Primary we started
with limited key competences to make sure every pupil got used to the technology and the new ways
of learning in distance. As time went on, we needed to add all the subjects in order to follow the
curriculum. And little by little we adapted, kept on going and even improved the methods of
learning.

It required a lot of teamwork, leadership and leading in change, quick reactions, flexibility, digital and
pedagogical competence, resilience and trust. We were lucky to have already a good digital structure
in our school. In a very short space of time we had to take stock of what learning means and establish
a common understanding of the core issues – interaction and community. So it was interactive
learning itself and the sense of community which we had to quickly adapt to a new format.

We had teams for different groups of pupils and teams for different groups of professionals at the
school and we started to build on that. We asked for help on technical issues and quickly started to
share good practices among colleagues. We had lots of meetings that were really needed to keep the
pedagogical discussion ongoing. We had enough autonomy to take some pedagogical decisions,
depending on the group of pupils and their needs. We started to realize that some pupils were
shining and learning much better that in class. And we made the best we could of it.

Teamwork with parents was certainly the most important dimension in Nursery and Primary that
made all this distance learning possible. We communicated and tried to find the best solution with
each family to survive this time together. For sure, it required resilience at home just as it did at
school. And, in some funny way, the time of confinement brought us closer together. Also closer with
colleagues around the world that we don’t even know… I, for example, belong to a group where over
hundred thousand educators share pedagogical ideas on distance teaching worldwide.

Security is a feeling that needs to be re-created every day. As routines and school culture brings
security for small pupils, we tried to keep carrying on with our action plans. In the choir team, we
posted songs at the moment we would have had a concert together and, encouraged by a parent, we
even made the virtual choir project happen, together with the Primary choir. Again, a massive
contribution by the parents of our little choristers.

Looking ahead, it is surely wise to reflect on this time and benefit as much as we can in order to
formulate our future. We are not simply trying to carry on but to create a better future in our
schools. We took these big steps in the area of digital competence, and there are surely more
methods we can use to improve. Digitalization is not only distance learning. It can serve pedagogical
aims also when we are happy and fortunate, and help continue school work as we know it, as a
community together at the school, taking care of the well-being of all and keeping learning in focus.

 Boss working in Teamsteaching

Fun with virtual choir project Not professional but from the heart